How Did Income Affect Education in Tennessee in the 2014 - 2015 Academic Year?

map of Tennessee’s counties.

In 2016 ACT reported that students from families with an annual income of $80,000 or more tend to score about four (4) points higher than their counterparts in families that earn less than $80,000 a year. In 2013 the national average ACT composite score was 20.9. With ACT scores being a major (if not the primary) criteria for college admission in the US, a four (4) point difference is a big difference!

“Wealth Bubbles”"

Wealth Distribution Across TN

Using the 2013 IRS Tax Return Data we can plot a bubble for each (inhabited) zipcode in TN. And we can: * make the bubbles larger according to the IRS’s population estimates for 2013 * darker according to each zipcode’s Adjuste Gross Income per capita (County AGI divided by County Population).